Committed the Crime After an Argument with His Girlfriend
Heavy Sentence Confirmed for "Brutal Method of the Crime"... Supreme Court: "No Unfairness in Lower Court Rulings"
A man in his twenties who was put on trial for strangling his girlfriend until she lost consciousness during an argument and then stabbing her more than ten times in the neck and chest with a weapon, resulting in her death, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, with the sentence now finalized.
On May 30, the Supreme Court's Third Division (presiding justice Lee Heungku) confirmed the sentence, stating, "It cannot be said that the second trial's decision to uphold the first trial's sentence of 20 years in prison for the defendant, Kim, was unjust."
Kim committed the murder in the early morning of May 21 last year at a multi-family residence in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, after rendering his girlfriend unconscious and stabbing her more than ten times with a weapon. According to the police investigation, the motive for the killing was Kim's obsession. The two, who were senior and junior in middle school, began dating for the first time in January last year. Since then, Kim reportedly became obsessed, demanding that his girlfriend not meet or contact other men and suggesting the installation of a real-time location sharing app.
As a result, the girlfriend repeatedly asked to break up. Each time, Kim refused, saying, "I can't live without you." Even 20 days before the murder, he purchased a kitchen knife at a convenience store near her home and reportedly said, "I'm buying a knife and going home. If we break up, I'll die," or words to that effect. The incident occurred, and Kim was indicted and detained in July last year.
The first trial stated, "The defendant stabbed the victim multiple times with a kitchen knife while she was defenseless, causing her death," and added, "The victim's family will suffer the lifelong pain of losing a loved one who was only in her twenties." The first trial applied the 'brutal method of the crime' as an aggravating factor and sentenced Kim to 20 years in prison.
Kim's side argued in the second trial that aggravating factors should not be applied, but this was not accepted. The appellate court stated, "Considering the specific method of the crime, the type of weapon used, the location and intensity of the wounds, and the degree of pain the victim must have felt, it is reasonable to assess that the defendant inflicted extreme physical pain beyond the ordinary level in committing the murder." The Supreme Court also agreed with the judgments of the first and second trials and finalized the sentence.
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